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Sunday, July 3, 2011

Lake Superior -- BEACH TIME!


Roger here...  Nothing like starting with the end of the day!  More sunsets to come.


Dianne and I decided to take a couple days of hiatus from our sightseeing.  There is so much to see and do here, but what a shame it would be to not enjoy our beachside setting, especially in this ideal weather -- highs in the mid seventies and sunny.  


Miles of beach walking are just 25 yards from our campsite.  Our doggies love the daily long morning walks.  Bandido has discovered a new joy -- digging deep holes in the sand between romps in the shallow water.


Here is a view of our campground across the bay from about a mile away.




The few times we have been to Lake Michigan in Indiana, we enjoyed the magnificent dunes, but were disappointed by the pungent brown water that was full of seaweed.  That is not the case where we are located right now on the south shore of Lake Superior, where the water is a deep blue and incredibly clear.  Instead of slimy kelp, the view through the water is of multi-colored pebbles and rocks.  We have collected enough of them now to put our motor home overweight.  (Remember Lucy's rocks in the Long, Long Trailer?)


Yesterday, when the sun became a little too intense, I dug out one of our purchases from the Cabela's store in Nebraska.  We often find ourselves unable to enjoy the outside due to a campsite configuration that puts our outdoor area directly in the sun.  If it is too windy to put out the awning, we either stay inside or slap on sunscreen and hats, and then sweat.  Our new toy solves the problem.  It is amazingly simple for one person to assemble in a five-minute time frame.  It is lightweight, easily carried in its over-the-shoulder sleeve.  And... it is small enough to easily fit in a bay.  I present to you...  the Sport Brella.




After spending an hour at the campsite, we decided to disassemble it and take it to the beach.  Pretty cool, huh?  Dianne even agrees that my impulse purchase by the check-out counter was a good one.






What a relaxing day, and the view......





(What you can't see in these photos are the hardy little northern kids swimming and playing in the cold Lake Superior water.  I overheard a man say the water temp was 55 degrees!! -- D.)

Back to the end of the day....  Here is a ten-minute record of the awesome sunset.  (My favorite pic is the last one, when the sun is fully down and the reflection on the water is perfect.)








Tomorrow... The Fourth of July Celebration in Munising, Michigan.  Should be fun.


We return to a retro Whippet Picture of the Day for today's pet picture.  We recently reconnected with RV Dreamer friends, Steve and Evin.  We met them at the RV Dreamers Rally in South Carolina last year.  They just sold their house and are ready to embark on full-time RVing!  Steve just e-mailed the above photo to us.  The picture was taken in April, 2010 at the bottom of the waterfalls in Stone Mountain State Park in NC, where we accidently ran into them and their three dogs at the bottom of a million or so stair steps.  Steve and Evin took the picture.  Our sadly-missed Jasper is the whippet on the left.  Chaplin is the whippet on the right.

7 comments:

I.M. Vayne said...

Lookin' at that there two dogs and a little lady in the sport bella picture, I.M. are wonderin' somethin'. Some's in the shade and some's in the sun, so just which is the smart ones?

Gayla said...

Lovely place, thanks for the "mini vacation."

Gayla said...

Lovely place - thanks for the mini-vacaion!

Mike and Terri said...

LOVE that sport brella -- gonna have to look into that.

Our precious pets may be gone but never forgotten. Precious picture of your Jasper.

Nancy and Bill said...

Glad to see you two kickin' back and enjoying life. Sometimes the best thing to do is NOTHING!!

Thanks for sharing your very relaxing day ;o))

Happy Fourth of July!!

Margie and Roger said...

Like the looks of the Sport Brella but what keeps it from blowing away? Looked another style up and it has a floor. I like the concept of having some shade - good for wide open fairground parking sites. Photos want me to paint up the Chihuahuas.

Travelwithwhippets said...

Margie... The Sport Brella comes with stakes and grommets to secure it to the ground. We have used it three times in the wind with no problem. It also has a couple of side windows to allow the breeze to blow through. It does not have a floor, but that is OK unless the campsite is in a dirty (muddy) area. It does not kill the grass, so you can leave it up.

I.M.... See your point about the smart ones.... The key is that Chaplin is on a short leash so he can't go into the sun. Bandido comes into the shade when he wants to. Dianne is always smart.